How to Handle the CEO

If you're lucky enough to have a CEO who truly understands, values and actively paves the way for strategic HR initiatives AND holds the leadership team accountable for following through...well...you can skip this note cuz you don't need it.

For the rest of us, I'm going to share two things this week that can help. Today I'm including a FREE DOWNLOAD for having conversations with your CEO and later this week I'll share a FREE GUIDE for keeping your leadership team accountable to organizational goals (HR initiatives included!).

But first!

There are only 3 more days left to enroll in Uncommon HR Leadership (it's both live AND on demand to fit your schedule AND here's a special code UHRL20231101 for a juicy reduction in tuition). To give you just a taste of what to expect, as a participant you'll:

• Work with real life challenges in real time
• Learn how to tie initiatives to strategic outcomes
• Apply new motivation & influence techniques
• Get a practically fail-proof proposal template
• Discover how to get others aligned and accountable
• Gain practical support for your own wellbeing so you don’t burn out

Get the Details Now!

So, about that CEO...

If you are a visionary HR leader - always looking for innovative solutions and ways to improve HR practices - then you are likely to come up against resistance from your CEO. And that resistance comes in all forms so sometimes it's hard to spot.

What resistance looks like

Even though you may feel included, respected, and recognized in your role, there are a number of ways innovative HR leaders come up against resistance. Here are a few. Do any of these resonate with you?

1. Struggling with limited resources, which impacts HR's ability to be strategic.
2. Spending time trying to improve communication and collaboration among team members.
3. Striving to gain more influence within the organization.
4. Facing challenges related to diversity and inclusivity.
5. Balancing the demands of HR leadership with self-care and work-life balance.
6. Wanting to be recognized as a strategic partner rather than just a service provider.
7. Feeling alone in the work of fostering a positive workplace culture and engagement.
8. Struggling with the perception of HR as a cost center rather than a value creator.

And these are in addition to what many of us have experienced including outright dismissal of HR imperatives.

What is an HR innovator to do?

As a result of my years of work both inside organizations as an executive leading HR teams and outside as a consultant, I've developed a reliable way to cut through the typical ropes of resistance and build allegiance toward common goals from the outset.

How? By understanding what truly drives my client. Inside an organization, I have many clients depending on the specific task at hand: the CEO, my leader peers, the workforce as a whole, the individual employee. But at the end of the day, my real client is the organization and that's the same client the CEO has.

When I truly understand how the CEO is working to serve THAT client, only then can I align the HR initiatives with the right strategic objectives.

How to align HR initiatives with the right strategic objectives.

Now, the answer to how to align HR initiatives with the right strategic objectives is going to depend on all sorts of things, but I'd like to share one example. It comes from my work as a consultant when a CEO asks me to help "fix" some aspect of the organization by way of leadership development. Here is your FREE Download: Aligning HR and Organizational Strategy (A conversation with the CEO).

It contains 16 prompts to help you connect your vision of success directly to the CEO's vision. Of course, you can modify it to fit your needs.?

How to elevate your influence and achieve more strategic results

I hope you find the download helpful. Of course, your situation - and your CEO - is going to be unique. The prompts in the guide may not match your style or theirs.

What to do? Well, that's exactly what we'll be working on in Uncommon HR Leadership the upcoming 6-week course (live and on-demand to fit your busy schedule). We start this Wednesday evening with an fantastic cohort of smart, funny HR leaders who aim to be trusted advisors to top leadership, influencing key decisions, and creating a workplace where employees thrive.

I do hope you'll join us so you can feel empowered and equipped to transform HR into a strategic force.

As always,

Be Uncommon.

What's Coming Up

Speaking of concrete examples, if you're looking for immediately applicable actions you can take to break through the HR leadership roadblocks you're facing, I have some exciting opportunities for you:

Uncommon HR Leadership: Elevate Your Influence, Achieve Strategic Results, Enjoy Less Stress This is a 6-week online course that starts November 1, 2023 (live AND on demand AND a special rate with this code: UHRL20231101)

Fix HR Burnout: Create a winning HR strategy without sacrificing your wellbeing! This is a 3 hour workshop (free with Uncommon HR Leadership enrollment) on November 3, 2023 (live AND recorded)

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Julie Quinne is a leadership strategist, consultant, and coach who works with leaders to improve organizational results, increase workforce motivation, and create greater fulfillment in both work and life. A published author on the

topics of perseverance and purpose, she is also the creator of the Uncommon Leadership Framework?, founder of the Uncommon Collaboratory?, and she most enjoys inspiring change-thirsty leaders to take action and get results. Contact her here for programs, speaking engagements, keynotes, coaching, and more.